Cardinal Spellman figured to be tough enough to beat in the Division 3 South baseball quarterfinals on Monday at Case High School. So when six Case errors got thrown into the mix, the news had to be bad.

Case made two errors in a Spellman two-run first inning. Case made two more errors (dropped pop-ups) in the second inning as Spellman scored five runs for a 7-1 lead.

Spellman sophomore lefthander Ryan Joyce was very much in control, despite allowing nine hits. He issued no walks. It didn’t hurt him that Spellman turned four double plays.

Joyce committed Spellman’s lone error on a bad pickoff throw in the second inning.

Case finished with two wild pitches, a passed ball, and three hit batsmen, and four walks issued.

“You don’t want to say that we gave it away, but it was probably the messiest game that I’ve seen from these guys this year,” Case coach Joel Brown said. “We’ve had games where we make errors before, but it was tough to watch today.”

Spellman scored eight earned runs, seven unearned.

“I can’t overstate how they were just a strong team,” Brown said. “They hit the ball really well. They hit the ball hard. And we couldn’t make the plays, and then we couldn’t follow it up with hits.

“They come from a good conference. A competitive team, and I knew we weren’t going to walk away with this. It wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.”

Case sophomore pitcher John Elderkin, very effective the last couple of weeks, lasted two innings. “His last three or four starts have been phenomenal. His ERA is under 2 coming into today,” Brown said. “He just did not have it.”

Elderkin was followed by Cotey Monte (3 innings), Nick Moreira (1 inning), and James Scholes (1 inning). Spellman scored in every inning except the seventh when it left the bases loaded.

Case came out swinging, with Trevor Griffin leading the home half of the first inning with a sharp single to left. He raced to third on Korey Maynard’s off-field single to right and scored on a passed ball.

Griffin (2-for-3) scorched the ball all game long. He again singled to left in the third inning, and he lined into a 9-3 double play in the fifth.

Case played without starting catcher Mike LaFleur (.392 average). He was out due to a concussion.